Getting Even
by unleashed-demons
Summary: Alex was fragile, much more than Piper initially thought, and that panicked thirty damn seconds left phone call proved it all. Piper/Alex
1. Chapter 1

**Getting Even**

_Chapter One_

Piper Chapman sent her back. She fucking sent her back, all because her stupid ass probation officer caught her with a gun. _Smooth move, Alex, _she thought to herself. And to find out Piper had a bottle of alcohol, almost-sex with Larry at her Grandmother's funeral sent her to hysteria. Alex was fragile, much more than Piper initially thought, and that panicked thirty damn seconds left phone call proved it all.

_It's even_, Piper reasoned. After all, Alex was the first to send her here in the first place. She hated this fucking game the first time she played it at the trial and she couldn't help but think back to Polly and Larry. Everybody was getting even. It was different from cheating. That's what she was trying to tell herself, anyway, because she didn't need him anymore. Fuck Larry. This place made her an animal, but who was she to blame?

_Alex Vause._

No. To say Piper fucking hated Alex wouldn't be any less true, but she was a criminal nonetheless and that's what stopped Piper's family from visiting her. Jesus, just how embarrassing would it be if her mother had walked in on her having angry sex with Larry? Hell, her father? But the door was locked and that was the time she needed to pray. Where was Pennsatucky for that?

Not that it was all the way, because Larry had to blurt everything out and he couldn't stand to look at Piper. What a poor baby. He didn't know if that was an accurate word of choice, of course, but it was over and Piper sucked in a deep breath because she didn't have a home anymore. Prison was her home now. It wasn't where you came from, after all, and Alex learned that when she landed right back in.

- 0 -

_Don't forget, ladies. Your usual meal is over 1500 calories. Beware of overeating.  
_  
The cafeteria was disgustingly dirty and inmates stared as the infamous Alex Vause emerged from the doors. Even over the chatter, the first thing her eye's searched for were Piper's who immediately perked up. Her mouth was hanging open and she looked like she was trying to keep herself together as Alex glared at her menacingly. But it was all show. She couldn't be that weak gazelle that Piper had witnessed. All Pennsatucky did was laugh to herself at the table, because now that _Safe Place_ was gone she figured Alex really fucking needed it. _What an idiot__, _Alex thought. _Can't she tell she looks like a dyke now? An angel of God, that's for damn sure. _She rolled her eyes internally, scanning the inmates around her.

"It's good to be home!" She finally barked.

Alex's words were clipped with sarcasm. She glanced over at Piper's table, her eyes cutting through her like a guillotine and staring at her like it was her fault. She finally walked over, squeezing in between them all. She was now back at the table, and it was show time.

"Hey, Pipes." She waved her hand dismissively, her voice hard and a little uneven. "You fucking sold me out. You think you can get even with me, huh?"

"Look, why don't you guys just go have angry make-up sex or fuck under the sun?" Nicky cut in drily before Piper, because the odds of Piper staying pissed at Alex wouldn't be for very long. She twisted her mouth at her. "You could've at least smuggled in tacos for me before coming back to this snake pit."

"What did you even do? Break into someone's house or something? 'Cause I'm telling you, that wouldn't be very smart." Lorna said in a singsong voice, simply shaking her finger and making a tsk-tsk sound.

Nicky quickly pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. Upon seeing Alex here, Piper's first reaction was to let that tight ball of anger in her just explode, but her actual reaction was just body-freezing shock. The anger was what Alex was wanting to get a rise out of, she knew that. So Piper stayed calm. She had spent the majority of her day curled up in her bed and knocking her head against the wall, thinking maybe if she knocked it enough her brain would fall out.

"Nice to see you too, Nichols and Morello." Alex sighed heavily, putting a hand to her forehead. "Christ. Piper, can I talk to you? Now."

Nicky put her hands up in a mock surrender. Before Piper could protest, Alex was already steering her away from the table. Alex and Piper ignored the curious eyes all around. No animals allowed in prison. Yeah, right. There were damn hawks everywhere.

Alex stared at her. "Why the hell did you tell Crockett on me?" She said in a low, gruff voice.

"Look." Piper started, running a hand through her hair, exasperated. "You told me you had a gun and that he was after you! I had Polly call him and say you were skipping town. What the hell was I supposed to do? You scared me shitless, Alex."

Piper's head was a nightmare. Good god was she lonely without her. She hadn't received any calls from Larry after that request. She didn't have her best friend anymore, because what kind of best friend was that? Alex was different. She was a criminal and impulsive and had sex with Piper because she was too dazed to care, too used to acting on impulse. She and Alex were far from normal people. There was no way Alex could hold a steady job without heroin trafficking again. That's why she was back, because heroin trafficking was her life and she needed that adrenaline pulsing in her veins from doing something bad.

"I know, Pipes. I've been a horse's ass. It's a habit of mine." She frowned. "A bad one." Her voice was quiet. "Who would've thought I'd be relieved to be back in prison? Jesus, Piper. I am not cut out for the real world. I fucking missed you, you know."

Alex strangely missed this place and having her back in prison was an even weirder experience than Piper imagined.

Piper held Alex's eyes for several moments before she spoke. "Missed you too, Alex." She said shortly, and then she relaxed and a grin broadened on her face. "So you're not mad at me?"

"No, you ass." She laughed, a sound like gravel in her throat. "I've got enough going on and it sucks to stay angry and horny at the same time, you know?" She pressed a hand to her face and tried to take a breath. "It's cool, Pipes. I fucked up, okay? I really, really fucked up. Jesus, how do you survive out there? I don't know how Larry does it. His hand can only keep him company for so long."

Piper punched her lightly on the shoulder, making a face at her that Alex mirrored. She couldn't help but think back to that night and the visiting. She realized she hadn't said anything until she felt Alex's eyes all but tear a hole through her face. She opened her mouth in attempt, because her best friend who was supposedly married to Pete, had a baby and ended up fucking Larry was about as bizarre as it could get.

"Alcohol and a burger." She managed, thinking of herself and how it was better to act on impulses.

She deserved that goddamn burger, she thought. After all, the more Piper thought about what Larry did, the more of a dick move it became. And Alex just laughed. Christ, _this place_ made her insane.

* * *

**A/N: **_Please review~! Even if it's just to say how sexy Alex Vause is, goddamn. But I'll update faster if I know you like it!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two_

Alex Vause was back, evidently, after Piper had cleaned up her dirty mess. She always wiggled her out of every mess she got herself into. She folded her back together again, ripped apart the layers, broke her apart and saw all the pieces to try and kill the madness in her. But Alex could see right through Piper, how she named her. At first Piper could've said it was anger over the trial, the jealousy over getting out or the loneliness that ate away at her. No, there had just always been something about Alex. She may have had her moments, but she wasn't completely evil, even though she was demented and had psychological problems. _Why do you seem so inevitable to me?_ Piper thought, over and over again.

Because Larry left. There were no goodbyes or apologies. Every visit she'd fight with him over small things, over big things. There was a huge crack in their relationship and he just left, but who really was the criminal? Piper fucked Alex. Larry fucked Polly. For crying out loud, while families were grieving outside the bathroom door, she was trying to cope with sexual things. But Piper couldn't be alone and she had no idea what she was anymore. So she stopped dreaming of the perfect life she once had, wondering where the hell she went and why she was throwing her life away to a criminal. But so was she. Alex maybe robbed her life, but it was _their _crazy life and she couldn't come home to the coffee lattes or Larry's desperate face anymore.

Well, at least he would never have to do a cleanse ever again.

Piper just had to forget about the beach she'd rather be on in Tahiti. She didn't want to be like Lorna Morello. She felt sorry for her, really. She was a pretty girl but delusional, the poor kid insanely devoted to her "fiancé" Christopher who, in retrospect, didn't give a shit about her. But after Piper's visit with Larry and Polly, knowing it was over, she stopped taking their relationship to extremes. She knew he would leave. But who would blame her?

She was a criminal. She was a felonious, lesbian, WASP, and Shiksa that had her name on the _New York Times_ all at thirty-three. Thanks to Alex and Larry.

She deserved a fucking medal.

It happened so fast, too. Where did that child go? But things changed and she couldn't change back to that whole person she used to be, who her mother _wanted_ her to be. Maybe it would've happened anyway. It wasn't instant, but she could feel it happening, Larry's phone calls becoming shorter and shorter. But her mother would've known what to say, what to do. She swallowed the thoughts down. And then there was Alex who could look right through Piper, who fucking hated her and fucking loved her and maybe left more than once but always stayed. Even through all the mistakes and fuck-ups, she still wanted her.

- 0 -

Alex leaned against the dryer beside her. "Wanna fuck in the dryer?"

When Piper turned to her, Alex was grinning. Piper laughed and Alex laughed back - loud and unashamed. But it was nice, almost relaxing to be around the presence of criminals because they weren't subtle or censored. But Alex was different from Larry and their emotional connection never really went away. She just wanted her to feel safe, because this was the new normal now.

"I'm _serious_," she deadpanned.

"We can't have sex in the dryer, Alex." Piper teased, prodding her knee with her finger. "What if Pennsatucky came in and turned it on? I'm not gonna be cumming while it spins around in circles and that Jesus freak tries to kill us."

"Come on, babe. You hold the record," she whispered into her ear, moving to the underside of her jaw. She laughed lowly, shaking her head. "Cumming seven times because of me, Piper? Jesus Christ."

Because Alex totally didn't compensate while she didn't have Piper around by masturbating to death. Except, them being them, it escalated quickly. Alex was never good at getting her job right anyway, though she did get an A for effort.

And, being back in prison, she needed _something_ to do.

So Alex thought_, fuck it_, her hand eventually tangling in Piper's hair and mouth on her neck. Somehow, some way, this was their way of emotionally connecting. _Fuck Safe Place_, Piper thought, because the color wheel didn't approve of horny as a feeling. Alex cupped Piper's face and, holy hell, her mouth was already forcing its way onto hers. Really, though, Piper was just praying to god Mr. Healy wouldn't walk in or even a guard.

"You look hot with your hair all messed up like that." Alex murmured lowly in between kisses, backing Piper up against the dryer with her force.

Her kisses were hungry and desperate, but Alex had always been the most vulnerable around Piper. The connection never had to be built back up because she was always connected with her. It just lingered here and there, because Alex could push her so far, but she couldn't picture her life without Piper in it. She always pulled her back in. Piper was her end game.

And then Alex was sliding one hand under Piper's shirt, her shirt almost being tossed somewhere until Piper caught Pennsatucky's eye. The brief moment when their eyes met was terrifying. Piper was left panting, leaning against Alex until she shrugged her grip off of her. She fumbled with her khaki colored prison shirt, clumsily pulling it back up. _Well this is certainly awkward_, Piper thought. She gasped, backing away as she wiped her mouth on her sleeve, her hair messy and her face flushed. Alex always seemed to have the worst of luck.

Alex's hand brushed her dark hair forward. "Fuck." She muttered a curse word under her breath, eyebrows digging down. "It's the Jesus freak."

"Hey!" Pennsatucky catcalled, an incredulous look on her face as she turned to her. She stared at Alex, rolling her tongue across her teeth, a gleaming fake white. "Who are you calling a Jesus Freak? I – told – you." She punctuated the words. "I'm the angel of God and I thought you got out but you're here again and you know why?" She seethed and glared. "'Cause God is punishing you for lesbaining together. That's why you're back in Hell."

"That haircut makes you look like a dyke." Alex said flatly, studying her, and the teeth operation just made Pennsatucky even more fucked up than she gave her credit for. She let out a short humorless laugh. "It's like you're just _begging _for me to fuck you."

Piper put a hand to her forehead, eyes shut tight. This was the last thing she needed. Pennsatucky's brown eyes went wide. Alex gave every chance she had to snap at her. She smirked as she saw her flinch, knowing she was delusional. Pennsatucky was all bark and no bite, all fucked up and screwed. She was like a vicious dog that needed to be kept on a leash. Hell, she needed to be put back in the_ SHU._

"Yeah, well, you know what? You're not worthy of Jesus's love!" Pennsatucky hissed, sighing angrily and storming off.

Alex laughed coldly, though there was no amusement on her face. Piper couldn't help but think back to that night, how Mr. Healy just stood and watched as if he was at a goddamn show, like she was purely invisible. _He needed a new last name,_ she thought, because he couldn't heal anybody. Was his counseling some sort of reverse psychology bullshit? Sure, Mr. Healy hated drama, but if he didn't want to put up with it he should've worked in a goddamn library.

Piper laughed, nudging her shoulder with Alex's. But that night seemed like some far away memory, like episodic fragments in her head that never happened, and a part of her wished she had stabbed Pennsatucky until the life faded from her eyes. She wasn't at all an angel and _if Pennsatucky were the angel of God_, Piper thought, _there wouldn't be fucking crazy people_.

She almost wanted her juvenile mind back.

But Piper wasn't a murderer. She did have some decency left in her, you know. But the blacks were crazy too. Vee was a perfect example and when the police found her dead body on the side of the road, things seemed calmer without her around. Piper bit her lip, stroking the tattoo on Alex's shoulder blade, tracing the red rose.

And then she whispered straight into her ear, "Alex, what are we becoming?"

* * *

**A/N:** _So what do you think? There's never enough of Piper and Alex. Never. _

_Leave Reviews._


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter Four_

Piper and Alex had always looked at each other a little too long to be _just friends_. Now that Larry was gone, Piper was acting like an actual human being with all the bullshit feelings behind her. She knew there was always a rebound but she didn't think she was using Alex as _her_ rebound. Piper, after all, had a habit of where she'd go running off to Alex with her cute little sad face. Was it Alex she wanted or the company?

Because Larry was no longer an option. Her mother wouldn't approve, but Piper knew for certain she stopped truly caring for her when Larry left. Everybody left but even now, after all that, it was reassuring for Alex to know Piper took all of the baggage that tied to her. Piper couldn't even tell the difference anymore, because she didn't know if she was using Piper to make herself feel better and get through the breakup with Larry or if the emotional connection was always hovering over her heart, just a little dimmer when Alex was gone.

Maybe if she hadn't thrown that pie for Alex, things would be different. But Alex was like fucking heroin, smuggling her way into Piper's heart, which couldn't help but give pathetic thumps. She needed her more than she realized, to have her smile at her and touch her like old times, despite the scenery being a little different. Alex inhaled Piper like a remedy, the addiction a little too strong and her heart a little too intoxicated. But she wasn't suffocating.

Heroin _was_ the best girlfriend that Alex ever had, after all.

- 0 -

Yes, Lorna left the keys to a prisoner transport van but she was helping Rosa and that's what friends did. She didn't want her to die in _here_ like Tricia, who supposedly hung herself, though it was never confirmed. She just didn't want to find Rosa with eyes wide and blank with the shine taken from her pupils, so she let the mystery van drive away until it was long gone. But whatever, Rosa was free.

And there Lorna was, Nicky holding her close to herself and coddling her up on the edge of the stairs, a warm hand crawling onto her knee. Lorna was straight, but labels were for idiots and she eventually broke it off, whatever she was with her. Nicky wasn't just some evil fuck monster as Piper put it to most criminals in here. She was done doing sexual contests with Boo. She'd always let Lorna settle in her soft spot. She showed her that she cared, because even criminals needed friends, no matter how awful they were at attaining them.

Nicky nudged her shoulder softly. "Hey. What's wrong, kid?"

Lorna's eyes shadowed by her lower lashes, shaking her head a little. "She high-jacked the van," she whispered, eyelids heavy and mascara smudged under her irises. "Rosa. I didn't want her to die in here like Tricia, you know?"

"You're a sweet girl, Morello. Remember that. I told you not to break into that guy's house again. Nothing about letting a prisoner escape." She explained to her, stroking her face momentarily. "Fuck this prison, okay? Fuck the policy. We don't need another Tricia incident. I won't nark on you."

The moment when Tricia died was just as surreal for Nicky as anybody else. It wasn't _only_ the drugs. Mendez played a part of it. Tricia should've cut them off cold turkey, but then she'd have no outlet, no supply that'd fill the aching emptiness. At least Mendez was gone, burning that weight off all of the criminals shoulders.

Lorna's eyes flicked over to Nicky's face, her lower lip wedged between her teeth. She nodded mutely and stopped fretting. Even if she were straight, would it have been weird if Nicky thought she was absolutely adorable? But she couldn't give her thatcomfort anymore and she ended up muttering a quick, "Shit," before lifting her head up, Alex standing in front of them.

Alex had been back in prison for three days. She had left Piper watching her leave and she'd have to be blind not to see how hurt and confused she left her. The escape, though, just left Alex hiding in her house and sleeping with a gun under her pillow. She knew it wouldn't last and she couldn't remember the last time she ever admitted to herself that she fucking needed anybody. She just couldn't hold out any longer and she found more relief in prison than back in the real world. Maybe that's because Piper was with her and she knew for a fact that she wouldn't leave her again.

Somehow Piper was in a meeting with Mr. Healy, which left a bored Alex who got amusement from clawing at others, trying to pretend she was strong when even the wolves had their weaknesses.

"You and Morello gonna fuck, huh?" She jumped her eyebrows suggestively, wiggling them. "You know, with all the guards around I'd take it to the bathroom."

Lorna stared at her. "I'm straight, Vause."

She grinned. "Oh yeah? That's what Piper kept telling herself until she stopped feeding on loneliness and self-pity and came to me instead."

"I'm sorry the cafeteria makes your sexual appetite a little desperate, Vause." Nicky teased, deciding to humor her, her eyes narrowing.

Alex smirked at her. "Piper's part of a balanced diet, what can I say?"

Rolling her eyes, she edged past them, walking over to the cafeteria. The criminals were always fighting fire with fire.

- 0 -

_Don't forget, ladies. Your usual meal is over 1500 calories. Beware of overeating._

Alex smiled grimly. "You _were_ stubborn, Piper. I didn't want to break you down yet I got you to that point."

Piper picked at her dinner reluctantly, even though her stomach was growling, sitting at an empty table with Alex to find clarity within her. How could she eat when every feeling in the color wheel reeling in her head? She sighed, feeling this intense curiosity.

Piper's head jerked forward, trying to see what lay under Alex's pretty mask and then she said, "So who's winning here, Alex? Tell me."

She hated how Alex had infected this place, the chamber of her heart, the one place she felt the safest. All she had now was this prison, Alex, and her head. She just wanted her out of her head. She kept telling herself that, really, but she didn't mean it. Alex killed all the terrible things that were locked up inside there.

"The games over, Piper." Alex's eyes leveled on her. "I'm done chasing after you like I'm the goddamn wolf just because I fucking want you, okay?" She shook her head, a wistful smile on her face. "Listen to me. It's not going to end well. We've ruined our lives over each other. But if that's not inevitability, I don't know what is."

Sometimes, Piper didn't know if Alex was the good guy or the bad guy. But there she was, her mask starting to slip. This was like a side of her Piper hadn't seen, something flickering in Alex's face that she couldn't quite recognize because Alex hated the person she was turning into. Sure, she told Piper she liked her because of sexual reasons the first time, but that was her alter ego talking. _Fuck you, brain,_ she thought. _Fuck that Larry guy, too._ Alex loved her, damn it, even if Piper could be a Park Slope narcissist.

Now it was two sentences and two prisoners once again. Larry had gotten everything wrong about Piper and Piper had gotten everything wrong about herself. But Piper was whirling and confusing and Alex didn't know if she liked her because of the attention she gave her after Larry was gone or if she just liked someone _wanting_ her and treating her as desirable.

Nicky did the same with So-So, who after Alex had met the newbie, wanted wolves to gnaw at her flesh because of her annoyingly but determined hunger-strike. She remembered Piper's first day. Nobody insulted Red, which So-So involuntarily did. But fires clambered away just as much as they burned, though Larry lit the same fire in Piper that Alex did. Alex was just a constant fire burning in Piper's chest.

Piper listened intently, a cautious curiosity in her eyes. She huffed. "Vause. How about we start over?"

Because she couldn't believe the game was over. That she, Alex Vause, was becoming like Piper Chapman. A lamb. Piper remembered Alex's little voice in her head, a voice that was so not like hers, and hearing that she was _scared_ on the other line of the phone call just squatted Piper's heart.

A smile crept on Alex's lips, laughing caustically. She dramatically stood up. "Chapman. This isn't a bad time, is it?"

She grinned wildly at her, slumping down again. Alex recalled back to meeting Piper again with such clarity, except her brown eyes just went wide when she found out she was caged in this place with her. But whatever, Alex got the prize. Which was Piper, by the way.

"Do I look like I'm screaming because of you?" Piper raised her head, biting a grin back. "No. It's not a bad time at all."

And then Alex deadpanned, "I can make you scream, Piper."

"Stop it, Alex." Piper's eyes rolled, lips curving, using her elbow to nudge her. "So now it's like two sentences, two prisoners, huh?"

"That's an even more terrible title." She made a disgusted sound and shook her head, a smile threatening on her. "But it's different the second time around. I have you, Pipes. Like, for real."

Alex smiled, and she smiled back. This was what Piper wanted, Alex to realize how much she loved her, because why would she care enough to break her?

* * *

**A/N:** _Reviews can make up for that pie. Although I wouldn't mind a slice, too. _


End file.
